Time Lapse
by you.broke.a.promise
Summary: Rated M for language and occasional situations. "There was a time and place for the words you said to me that night," His voice floated on the wind and seemed to echo inside her skull, "That wasn't then, but it's now."
1. Before

Hello all, this has been a long time coming. I am so very grateful to the people who read the horrible, early, first version of Stand My Groud that I posted several years ago. While this has a different title, the original idea is still based off of the original SMG. Thank you so much for all of your love, the time you took/take to read the story, and your dedication if you are coming back to read the second, much much different version. There is a bit of NaruSaku in here, but this is primarily a SasuSaku story still. The plot will be entirely different, events are changed and new surprises await. This is not Stand My Ground, please understand that. It is as close as we will ever get to a rewrite of SMG, but this is it's own story. I will do my best to post two chapters a month, with this first chapter being the shortest one you'll read. I love all of you, and again, thank you so much for all your support. This story is for you.

* * *

A woodpecker.

It wasn't very pretty really, more accurately 'adorable' with it's bright, tiny, firetruck red mohawk. It was hammering away on a trunk less than five feet away from where her legs were stretched out across a remotely high branch.

She liked it best when she was by herself; no people to ask her questions, no smiling children depending on her right in her face. There was a wisp of a white fluffy cloud here and there, but mostly the sky was a beautiful bright blue- _like Naruto's eyes,_ she mused. She liked it best when she was by herself, but if there had to be one human near by, Naruto would be that person every single time. He knew how dark she was feeling, the anniversary of the battle that took the lives of Team 8 had just passed. He told her to go meditate- something he had taken up to better control his horrific Kyuubi enhanced temper. She wasn't meditating- just biting her nails thinking about how different her life had turned out from what she had expected as a girl.

There was a song playing in her head. She could hear it faintly, so perfect and soft- so pristine for this moment. But it wasn't quite there, and she couldn't quite place it. The words wouldn't come to her, blocked by the disruption of her inner peace. She shut her own eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the sound of the woodpecker's work when it all so rudely and abruptly faded away. The awareness was basically instantaneous, like the flick of a switch.

There were birds singing. Squirrels all hopping from tree to tree while they chittered about, a gopher burrowing down into the ground below. The sun was shining, there were even a few gorgeous orange and black fucking butterflies sprinkled across the grass.

She just kept staring, completely frozen. Her breath was caught in her throat. Her chakra raged inside of her, pulsating and pushing to be utilized.

This day had actually been planned out. It was warm, sunny, there was a spring not too far out of the village where they were currently stationed. It was _supposed_ to be a "fun filled day of smiles and down time" with Naruto. They hardly ever got assigned the same missions anymore, both now jounin and with different skill sets. Naruto was still passionately working his way to becoming Homage one day at a time and she always out of town on a mission… or either of them were out on the front lines of war. Needless to say, they didn't get much time together.

But Naruto was instrumental and ever persistent in keeping her from disappearing, as he had always been since those hard teenage days. For months, constantly showing up uninvited to her house, making sure she was fed by dropping her off some ramen or onigiri on his way home from Ichiraku's and even leaving flowers when she refused to answer the door. A part of her had ached to let someone in- and then one day finally she did.

He had grown, that was her first reasoning when her head tried to argue with her. ' _Do not pretend you can forget,'_ it whispered, always echoing inside her head. She would not forget, how could she? But she could ignore, that wasn't nearly as hard. So she filed away all her memories of endless obsidian eyes and raven hair, pale skin and heartache. The mornings when she opened her eyes to be greeted by the largest of grins, the brightest and bluest of eyes… those mornings were a light in the darkness that had somehow become her life.

They warn you in the academy that war still changes even the most resilient of flowers. It was true, she had learned first hand. Once the most delicate pink Sakura blossom, her petals were a little burnt and withered now; the vibrance toned down by the blood and ashes of sacrifice and war. When she returned, she wasn't usually in the mood for company. Or at least, not just any company.

Naruto was different too, quieter. While he still fought for what he believed in, voiced his opinion and chased his dreams, he did it with more weight on his shoulders than she had ever noticed. He did it without the aggressiveness and vigor that he had before. His flame had been dampened, his heart had turned a little blue. Instead, his aggressiveness bled out in the form the of Kyuubi's scorching chakra, giving him one of the most devastating tempers imaginable. He was so angry because he still felt the world was supposed to be different. She often found herself missing the days of her childhood when she had seen less, knew less, hurt less. Every time she looked into Naruto's eyes, she knew it was the same for him, the closest they ever were to their genin selves was when they were together. They could pretend that they weren't so broken. They could smile.

She could hear Naruto's voice, piercing sharply across what was supposed to have been the perfect day. He was struggling not to yell- probably wary of alerting her just yet to the situation that had so suddenly and unexpectedly presented itself. If it weren't for Naruto, she would have crawled inside her shell forever once she had come back from the war. But he didn't let that happen. He stood by her, and now in this moment- despite everything inside of her screaming that she _can't deal with this_ \- she needed to stand beside Naruto. His temper needed to remain under wraps or not only would they blow their mission (on their day off!), but the Kyuubi had not lost it's bad habit of making a very large mess. Most of the surrounding villages had made it extremely clear that despite Naruto's social and political status having gone up over the years- they still would not tolerate the Kyuubi's appetite for destruction.

She took a deep breath when she began to finally feel light headed. She was so filled with emotion- anger, bitterness, annoyance… nostalgia, heartache, sorrow, love. It hadn't been as hard as expected, ignoring it all for so long. At least not with Naruto around to fight her demons. She kept it deep, deep down… Truthfully, she had been in such a state of calm lately that she had begun to enjoy the day again. A familiar roar echoed through the trees pulling her from her thoughts and reminding her yet again that the situation could not be ignored, "Over my _dead fucking body,_ Teme!"

Without another pause, she flung herself from the branch and into the clearing— her fist raging with scorching green chakra. It crunched into the ground directly in between the two men standing in the area, creating a small crater, five feet across and a few feet deep. Both men in the clearing had jumped back a couple feet as the dust settled, and Sakura's eyes landed on the shape that was forming behind the cloud of earth. "No, Sakura! You need to go! _Now_!" Naruto's tone was urgent- she could hear the worry in his voice.

Without taking her eyes off the dark silhouette across the crater, she tilted her head towards the blonde haired man to hear him better before she asked her question. "Why?"

Naruto remained silent. He just glared across the clearing, his fists shaking at his sides, knuckles white. She stepped back as the figure stepped forward into the light, and her own eyes filled with contempt as she took in the sight of him.

"Because I came here for you," Sasuke said flatly. They locked eyes for a moment and she couldn't help herself, she laughed. The smile slid off her face with his next words, "And I'm not asking."

She laughed again, this time humorlessly. "I don't really care if you're asking or not asking, I'm not going anywhere with a traitorous selfish prick who doesn't give a damn if his teammates live or die. Do me a favor and stop wasting our time, go crawl back to Orochimaru or whatever other disgusting place you've decided to call home instead of Konoha. If you think you can just take me, you're going to be very upset."

Sasuke chuckled, a dark, empty sort of sound. "We'll see."

He took another step forward and Naruto's Rasengan whirred blue in his hands. "Don't take another step towards her," Naruto warned, his voice raspy and thick with something in-between anger and panic. "Don't make me hurt you, Sasuke."

Sasuke scoffed and then let a smirk creep over his face. "You aren't going to hurt me, Naruto. You _can't_ hurt me. _Believe_ that. But I will extend the offer to you as well, if you insist on making things difficult. But I _will_ take Sakura, whether you want to join us or not."

A sickening crack signified the earth breaking away beneath Sasuke's feet, and when he landed on a tree branch a few feet away, he found himself diving away from another aggressive attack from Sakura and her brute chakra. "I love the way you dismiss me," she spat, throwing another punch that cracked the tree down the middle as they bounced away from it. "I love the way you demean me, fucking speaking about me as though Naruto has more say in my freedom than I do."

The dark haired ex-member of Team 7 disappeared for a moment and she found herself being pulled back towards the original crater she had made by Naruto, who still had a look of panic in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he grumbled, but said nothing else.

She shrugged away from him, keeping vigilant of Sasuke. They could both sense he hadn't given up. "Why do you want me?" She called out to him, her eyes narrowed on the tree lines. Naruto reached over and grasped her hand, slipping his fingers between hers. She could feel his worry… and his jealousy. Her sea foam green eyes met with Naruto's cerulean ones and she silently apologized for the memories she was about to bring up. She broke eye contact and looked back towards the trees, waiting. "All that time all I wanted was for you to notice me. Return my affections. Respect me. You couldn't stand me, I repulsed you," She called. Naruto squeezed her hand as the wind blew through her hair. "So why are you here, Uchiha? What could you possibly want from me? What can I _possibly_ do for you?"

His voice was soft, and just behind them when he answered, "I need my family."

"Your family is dead," Sakura answered back quietly, "We were never your family. We were your team. We _wanted_ to be your family, but you never wanted that. We were less than that to you, or you wouldn't have left. You wouldn't have thrown me aside."

Silence fell over them for a moment. The birds had all flown away, and an eerie kind of quiet settled among the trees.

"There was a time and place for the words you said to me that night," His voice floated on the wind and seemed to echo inside her skull, "It wasn't then, but it's now."

"How convenient for you," Naruto scoffed, his grip tightening around Sakura's fingers. "Now you're ready for a family so you come back for something and act like it's yours. But Sakura-chan's not a possession, she's a person."

Sasuke sighed, his patience nearing it's end. "I can't explain this now, but I see you're not going to make this easy." He looked into Naruto's eyes for a moment, and then turned his head to meet Sakura's. A few moments passed as they stared at each other. Sakura held her breath, her heartbeat filled her ears. She could feel Naruto begin to get restless, made uncomfortable by their silently held gaze. And then Sasuke suddenly snapped his fingers.

Sakura's eyes flitted to the edge of the clearing. Two teenagers had appeared there, a boy and a girl. They were both white blonde with dark eyes, the male had a large sword on his back. Sakura frowned and pulled her hand from Naruto's as she gathered chakra to brace herself.

She glanced back to Sasuke to find that he had disappeared. Naruto's eyes were on the kids who were slowly approaching. The boy had pulled his sword off his back and held it in front of him. The sun glinted off of it and she could see it was wide and had several symbols on it. A large chakra feeding sword, like Kisame and Zabuza.

"Are you sure you won't come willingly?" The girl called, her voice sounded like glass. Her hands were already forming signs for some kind of jutsu.

"You don't have to do this," Naruto called, "You don't know who that Teme is! He's a bad man, we can help you. We don't want to hurt you." Sakura could feel the Kyuubi's chakra building next to her, Naruto was losing his temper with the situation.

The boy smiled, and shook his head, "We know exactly who Uchiha Sasuke is," he said, raising his sword higher. "So we'll apologize in advance and remind you that he did ask you to come nicely."

* * *

All she saw was a dark brown ceiling. She frowned and blinked, taking a minute to let her vision adjust. Her body felt weak, and heavy. Her limbs were stiff. She took a breath and pushed herself on to her elbows as her eyes dilated and she could finally see. She was in a very dimly lit room, on a bed. Her mouth felt dry. Her hands were in chakra cuffs.

"You must have a lot of questions."

Her neck snapped towards the voice and she cringed in pain, "Sasuke? Where the fuck am I? What have you done?"

Her eyes jetted down to her cuffs as she searched them for any weak points. After quick inspection, her eyes landed on her fingernails and widened. They were long- they had been cut, but they were longer than they had ever been… she was a nail biter. Especially in times of stress. And her finger nails hadn't been bitten in a long time.

"Soon you'll have all the answers," He said. He stopped and looked at her for a moment, and she thought she could see some kind of emotion in his eyes. Then he pulled the curtain aside and stepped back into the shadows. The sun spilled into the room in a stream of light that cut across the bed and lit up the corner of the room where she sat. Across from her was a mirror, revealing her reflection. Her cerise hair billowed around her and curled at the ends, the length even longer than it had been in her genin days. Horror filled her as she realized the amount of time it would have taken for her hair to have grown that long.

"What have you done?" She repeated, her heart in her throat.

Just then, the door burst open, and a small child ran in. "Is she awake yet!? Is she awake?" Sasuke grabbed ahold of him before he could get within reach of her. The child's face lit up in the stream of sun and Sakura gasped. His hair was dark, even in the sunlight. The boy reached for her, wiggling in Sasuke's arms; his sea foam green eyes met hers and a smile grew large across his face, "Oka-san!"

* * *

To be continued….


	2. Hello

**Author's Note:** So I feel the need to clarify this timeline a bit more. This doesn't follow the manga, nor does this fic give Sasuke and Sakura a daughter called Sarada. This timeline is my own. It does follow the original events of Team 7 (such as Itachi murdering the clan, Sasuke trying to get his revenge, joining the academy and Team 7, the Chuunin exams, Gaara's attack during them, Orochimaru, and Sasuke leaving Sakura on the bench, as well as some of the Naruto Shippuuden timeline) but then veers off entirely on it's own. In the first chapter there was a small mention of the war that Sakura and Naruto fought in while Sasuke was away. We will be diving into that a bit more as well, just for a little background on this timeline and it's events. It may not be for a few chapters, though. Also, I got a review from a Guest that I could not respond to saying they can't stand fics in which Sakura isn't faithful…. The NaruSaku in this fic is after Sasuke has left, after the war (which is part of the plot), and before Sakura and Sasuke have any kind of mutual "romantic" relationship. Just breathe. Yes, there will be some underlying NaruSaku, but again I repeat: THIS FIC IS A SASUSAKU fic. I generally like NaruSasuSaku better than I like NaruSaku… lol. SasukexSakura has always been my OTP! So don't get it twisted, okay? :)

 **Disclaimer:** Not mine, never mine.

* * *

 _Present Day_

* * *

A million thoughts were racing through her mind, but she couldn't focus on a single one. She watched as the boy struggled to reach her, his arms outstretched towards her. His raven hair bounced in the sun, taking on a bluish black hue. His hands were so small, so perfect. His little fingers straightened as he strained to make his need for her clear. There was no question in her mind that the child was an Uchiha. The boy was also wearing a high collared dark blue shirt, she would bet money the little flit of white and red she had seen when Sasuke had snatched the boy up was the Uchiha fan on the back.

The child's smile slowly faded off of his face when Sakura failed to reach back for him. His lip began to sport a pout and he let out a low whine. This however, did not distract Sakura from the look of pain that flitted across Sasuke's face.

"Oka-san!" The child repeated desperately, "Oka-san!"

"Your mother will say hello to you later," Sasuke said quietly, so quietly Sakura almost didn't hear him. "For now, she needs to rest."

"But—" The child squeaked as Sasuke placed him on his feet.

"Let me see him," Sakura said, surprising herself with the sound of her voice. She had thought it, but did not mean for the words to slip from her lips. But they had, and it was too late now.

The child launched himself onto the bed and into her arms before she could say anything more. Her eyes were locked with Sasuke's dark ones as the boy snuggled into her middle. She searched his face for some kind of wordless answer, but he just stood there expressionless. His eyes were on the child; who was chattering excitedly into her shirt about something but she couldn't focus well enough to make it out. Her body still felt so tired, and her wrists were still restrained with chakra cuffs, but the boy smelled of something familiar, something homely. She did her best to focus on it, and was slapped hard with a memory.

* * *

" _Please, please, please, can we make more?" This was a different child, taller, older. Not by much, but definitely older than the one in her arms. His eyes were dark like Sasuke's, but he had her nose, and her mouth, right there in the middle of his own face. "Please? You always make it so good and then we never get any because Father always eats it all."_

 _They were standing in a kitchen, making her grandmother's prize bread bun recipe. She couldn't remember making that in years, ever since her grandmother had died._

" _Yes, of course we can," She heard her own voice saying, "But remember the recipe is top secret. Promise you'll never tell?"_

 _She felt like she was watching a movie out of her own eyes. Her hands reached down past her large belly and lifted the boy up and he squealed, clapping his hands together excitedly. "But can I tell the baby when it's born?"_

 _She laughed and kissed the child's cheek, "Okay, but he's the only one you can tell."_

* * *

She came back to reality with Sasuke slowly and gently tugging the child off of her. She watched as the boy slid comfortably back into his father's arms, looking oddly relaxed and sleepy. A small smile was sitting on his lips and he watched her from under a lock of dark hair, through his long Uchiha lashes. Those were definitely a Sasuke attribute. Sasuke turned and moved towards the door, the child still in his arms. Sakura watched him go, still frozen and confused, unsure of anything.

What if this was all just a genjustu? What if Sasuke had her trapped in a dream world... or a nightmare world- where he had just used her as a baby making machine and given her no choice… What if that's what he was doing to her body _outside_ the dream land?! What if—

"It's not an illusion," Sasuke said quietly, his back to her. He had stopped in the door way. "You said you would think that, so I know you're considering it. But it's not an illusion. He isn't an illusion."

She had felt that child in her arms. And in the memory, she had smelled the "top secret" recipe her grandmother had taught her for their clan's famous bread buns. Everything was so overwhelming and hardly any of it made sense, but deep down she knew at least the children were real. They were no illusion. He was telling the truth.

"Where is the other?" She asked, and she was unable to stop a prick of worry from slipping its way into her tone. It was unintentional, it was just there. Sasuke said nothing for a moment, but then stepped forward out of the door way. A head popped around the corner, two big dark eyes taking her in.

"Ka-san?" The boy came into the room and stepped into the stream of sunlight. She took a deep breath as she looked at him- he had to be at least six years old. She smiled at him- even without all the answers, or any of the answers… she couldn't help it. He smiled back at her immediately, relief washing across his familiar features. "I knew you wouldn't forget me," He choked as he came towards her, tears welling up in his dark obsidian eyes.

He climbed into her lap and she did the best she could to wrap her arms around him.

For some reason, she knew it had been a long time since she had held him. What had happened? How? In that memory, she did not feel panicked. She did not feel threatened. She did not feel mistreated or held against her own will. She felt safe, at home. She had felt… happy. She was making her clan's famous bread buns with her son in a cozy kitchen. That did not seem like the life of someone forced to bear children for her captor. Not to mention, why had she not escaped? She was a top grade healer, and an excellently trained Leaf jounin. She didn't doubt Sasuke's skill or ability to hold her against her will, but she knew she could make some very explosive escape attempts if she chose to.

She glanced up at Sasuke, who was still standing just shy of the doorway now. The smaller boy was still in his arms, but was seemingly out cold. He held her gaze for a moment longer and then walked slowly back towards her, as to not alarm her. She watched him carefully, fully aware that anything hostile he could try would also hurt the children. But for some reason, she did not feel worried. It dawned on her then that it was trust she felt. She trusted him. Why?! Her eyes snapped towards his face again as he got closer, and he met her gaze again. He kept it as he leaned down and with one hand, released her chakra cuffs. With her now free hands, she was able to properly hold the child in her lap.

How odd, for her first instinct to be to hold the child better instead of trying to leave the room. How odd, to feel and appear to be several years older than what she last remembered. Oh, and how odd, for her to also have what seem to be two children of her own right in front of her- fathered by someone she had wished would just give her the time of day when she was just a girl.

And what about _Naruto_?

His name slid away as the boy tugged away from her. She realized she had been lost in her thoughts for a few moments longer than she realized, as Sasuke was already standing back in the door way with the child in one arm and her chakra cuffs in his hand. He looked into her eyes again, and she remembered another piece of the memory.

* * *

 _He stepped into the kitchen, running a hand through his wet hair. He caught her gaze, and she watched as he took her in. She was still holding their son on her hip, his small leg resting on top of her large swollen belly. A small ghost of a smile crept onto his lips, "I didn't think you could possibly get any larger, Sakura," he said, his voice thick with amusement. "But each day you prove me wrong."_

" _You're asking for it," She replied, her tone dripping with amusement. The child laughed and Sakura placed him on his feet so he could run across the room to greet Sasuke. "How was the mission?"_

" _It went well. It's done." He looked at her for a moment before he bent down and snatched up the boy. "And how was…" He paused, and then gestured towards the counter where the bread dough was sitting, "everything?"_

 _She smiled, "Everything's perfect."_

* * *

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice cut into the moment. He was still standing in the doorway. The older child was tugging on a lock of her long hair.

"I'm fine," She smiled at the boy, and he smiled back.

"Come," Sasuke said, "Let your mother rest."

The child did not argue, but he leaned in and pressed his lips to Sakura's cheek. She sighed, running her hands through his soft hair and then pulling him close to her again. "See you later," She told him, and urged him towards the door. She needed answers, and she wasn't going to get them playing nice in front of innocent children.

Their children. She would need to think about that later, lest her head explode now from stress.

"Don't run… please," Sasuke had paused again, and he turned his body slightly to face her. Her eyes fell upon her sons again, one sleeping soundly cradled in Sasuke's arms and the other standing at his side. The three of them there, in front of her. All raven haired and fair skinned…

"For some reason," She answered, her brow furrowed against the truth of it, "I don't even want to."

"Hn," His typical response.

"But I do want answers."

"And you'll get them," He said. And with that, he was gone.

* * *

I hope every one had enjoyable holidays! I will be back later in 2016 with some more chapters, hopefully a lot lengthier! Review for me?

R


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